


I Can’t Just Give Him My Foot Again!

by AvatarAbby



Category: Lunar Chronicles - Marissa Meyer
Genre: Birthday, Birthday Presents, Cooking, Engagement, F/M, Fluff, Romance, Shopping, kaider
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-10
Updated: 2020-03-10
Packaged: 2021-03-01 02:00:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,699
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23097481
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AvatarAbby/pseuds/AvatarAbby
Summary: Cinder goes shopping with Iko for Kai’s birthday. When she comes up with nothing, she decides to give Kai a night off instead.
Relationships: Iko & Linh Cinder, Kai/Linh Cinder
Kudos: 40





	I Can’t Just Give Him My Foot Again!

**Author's Note:**

> I know that Kai’s birthday isn’t til April, but I wanted to do a cute fic between the two of them and his birthday seemed like a good jumping of point. Thanks for reading! Kudos, praise, and constructive comments are never unwanted!

“This is going to be so much fun!”  
“Relax Iko,” Cinder said as they walked through the streets of New Beijing. “We are shopping for Kai’s birthday present, not going to the moon.”  
“Oh, let me have this,” Iko said as she skipped along the path, her dreads swaying with every step. “This is our first real shopping excursion since being back on earth. And now you and Kai are engaged!”  
“Shhhhh! Only the group knows that. We want to keep it private for a little while.”  
“No, you want to keep it private for a little while. Kai looks like he’s ready to sing it from the rooftop of the palace. And besides, no one is gonna listen to us. You have your glamour on.”  
Cinder had disguised herself to look like a any ordinary person on the streets, changing her hair color and facial features. It was still a cold enough in the year for one to be wearing gloves, so that took care of hiding her instantly recognizable cyborg hand and the ring on it.   
“I just don’t like the attention, you know that.”   
Iko looked to her shopping companion. “I know. And I’ll be there for you whenever you are ready to tell more people. But in the meantime, let’s go shopping! We got this.”  
Iko may have had it, but Cinder certainly did not. While the android had already accumulated multiple bags of clothes and accessories in just a few short hours, her cyborg companion had nothing.  
“Ugh,” Cinder yelled as they sat down in the square for a break, frustrated. “Nothing is good enough! I can’t find a present!”  
“I’m sure something will just pop up. It has to.”  
The former queen slouched in her chair. “No, it won’t. There’s nothing I can give Kai that he doesn’t already have or can’t get himself. He’s the emperor of a large nation, for stars sake.”  
Iko considered this for a long while, her eyes turning a light orange to indicate creativity and contemplation. “Maybe you are looking at this too objectively. Think of the things Kai enjoys that can’t be bought. Give him something personal.”  
“I already gave him my foot! What more could he want?” Cinder huffed.  
The blue-haired girl through back her head and gave a bubbly laugh. “I was thinking more like making him a scrapbook or giving him a pet, not a piece of limb.”  
“Well I couldn’t give him a pet. He would feel guilty anytime he couldn’t be with it and would worry he’s just adding another chore for the servants. And I’m terrible at arts and crafts. Remember that time I tried to make Winter a flower crown?”  
“Oh yeah, that was really bad. But you know what I mean. Giving a gift doesn’t have to be something huge. It doesn’t even have cost anything. It just has to come from you and show the person you are giving it to that they matter. I know you love Kai, you’ll find something.”  
Cinder thought about this. Kai was the kind of person who always put others above himself, always felt that he only existed to serve others. It was what made him a great leader, but it also made it hard for him to let go and be proud of getting his country to where it is now. If she could just give him a day, an afternoon even, to let go and unwind, well that would be the best gift the cyborg could imagine.  
An idea began to form in her head. She ran it by Iko, who seemed rather excited by it.  
“Yay!” She squealed. “It’s a great idea! And even better, you’ll need a new outfit.” With that, the girl dragged her friend up and away towards more shops.  
————————————————————  
Cinder was actually getting the hang of cooking.  
While she had made some meals during her days as Adri’s stepdaughter (aka servant), they were on the basic side, as they couldn’t afford anything that went outside the necessities. Now that Cinder was staying at the palace, however, she had the most rare and exotic spices right at her fingertips.   
She remembered Kai once telling her that spiced noodles where his favorite meal, so she used the computer in her brain to find a recipe and walk her through step by step. When it was finally finished, the cyborg placed a serving of it on each of the two plates and set it all on the small kitchen table, where the staff would often take their meal breaks. She set the table and sat down.  
Everything was ready. All she had to do was wait for the emperor.  
As if on cue, Kai walked into the kitchen, looking down at his tablet. “Daiyu, I got your message about changing the menu for the dinner with the U.S. President and while it’s kinda late to do so, I think it might be a goo-“ Kai stopped talking once he looked up to see that no one was in the kitchen except Cinder.  
“Happy Birthday!”  
“Where is everybody?”  
Cinder placed a hand on her hip and gave him a playful glare. “That’s all you say when your fiancé surprises you and wishes you a happy birthday?”  
“Thank you,” he said, still looking around, “where is everybody?”  
“I gave them the night off.”  
“The entire kitchen staff?”  
She nodded, pulling out a chair for him and motioning him to come sit. “Actually, I gave a lot of the staff the night off. I wanted it to be as close to just the two of us for tonight.”  
“Why?” Kai sat down and looked at Cinder, confused.  
She reached across the table and laced their fingers together. “Because I know how you hate for people to do extra work just because it’s your birthday, so I thought if I made you dinner and we scratched out all the fancy plates and outfits and dining room, you would enjoy it more.”  
“You made me dinner? All by yourself?”  
“Well, my software system helped out. But yeah, I made you your favorite dinner. And while Iko did force me to get a new outfit, I convinced her to go for something a little more casual.“   
It hadn’t been easy. For at least the first two hours since she told her friend about her plan, Iko had took her to places with the hopes of getting her a ball gown or a cocktail dress. Finally, after a long explanation about how those outfits weren’t the best for cooking and the whole point was to not act like royalty, the blue-haired girl finally landed on blue pants and a white floral top. They still cost more than what Cinder used to pay to get a new foot, but there were only so many hills she was willing to die on.  
“I wanted the two of us to have a night to just be together,” the cyborg explained. “To just be Cinder and Kai. The two of us have come so far as a couple.”  
“Yeah,” Kai said, smiling ear to ear. “We have at that.”  
“If you want me to actually get you something, just name it and I will. I just thought-“  
Kai interrupted her by leaning across the table and putting a finger to her lips. “You were thinking all the right things. This is perfect.”  
The girl sighed with relief. “Really?”  
“Really.”  
“So,” she started, “tell me about your day.”  
The two sat and ate their meal for about an hour, enjoying each other’s company in the low light of the kitchen and talking about anything and everything. Cinder asked multiple times if Kai liked the food, to which he answered truthfully that he did. But it didn’t matter to him if it had tasted terrible. All that mattered was that they were together.   
“Don’t get mad,” Cinder said as the last of their dinner was eaten, “but Daiyu did make a mini cake for us before she left.”  
“She didn’t.”  
The former Lunar queen raised up her hands in surrender. “Hey, I told her it wasn’t necessary, but you can’t tell that women anything. I believe her exact words were, ‘You may be his girlfriend, but I am his chief. I will be making a cake and there is nothing you can do to stop me.’”  
Kai chuckled. “She has always been very stubborn and willful.”  
“I’m a little surprised you bought my note. If Daiyu wanted to change the menu, she would do it with or without your approval.”  
“True.”  
Cinder set the small chocolate cake in the middle of the table, handing him a fork and then using her own to start digging into the delicious treat.   
“I think it’s time we start telling people we are engaged,” she said abruptly.  
Kai dropped his fork and clumsily tried to catch it in midair before it fell into his lap. “What?!”  
“I think we should tell people we are engaged.”  
Kai looked deep into her eyes. “Are you sure that’s what you want to do?”  
“Yes. When Daiyu called me your girlfriend today, it felt weird. Like someone had called me by a different name. I want people to know we are getting married, that nothing is going to stop us from being together from now on.”  
The birthday boy sat in silence for one millisecond, then shot out of his seat like a rocket. “Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes!”  
“I’m assuming you’re okay with that, then?”   
“Of course I am,” he shouted, still jumping up and down, “this is the best birthday ever!”  
Kai’s excitement was starting to rub off on Cinder, causing her to stand up and start jumping with him. “We’re getting married!”  
“We’re getting married!” The two embraced and shared a kiss.  
The couple stayed like that for while longer, just taking in the moment. True, not everyone would be happy that the heartthrob emperor of the Eastern Commonwealth was engaged to a cyborg and former queen of Luna. But they had been through worse together. They would get through whatever came their way now. Nothing was gonna stop them from happily ever after.


End file.
